The making of "Pecking Order"
by Matt Olson

We began writing the songs for what would become our first all acoustic record in the winter of 2005.

Jason, Adam, and I would get together on evenings and weekends outside of our regular rehearsals to 

see if we could work out the foundation for new songs without having to deal with the volume of  a full

band rehearsal.  We soon realized that this process we were beginning was far more conducive to 

new ideas and amplified creativity.  Adam suddenly had the freedom to try out more ideas and push his 

voice to places and ranges that would have been inaudible over the roar of electric guitars and drums.  

Jason had also begun playing rhythm guitar again in, something he had not been doing in the band 

since before we recorded "Blown Out."  With Jason laying down a tight groove for Adam to create his 

vocals over, I was able to focus on writing melody lines for the guitar that I could intertwine with the

other two parts.  As we got more comfortable using this formula, songwriting become more exciting

and engaging than at any point in our last ten years of working together.  Over the that next year

we continued writing more songs in this fashion. We tried many of these songs in our normal hard rock

arrangement and found that although they worked out pretty well they lacked the organic vitality that the 

stripped down three piece arrangements provided. We decided that we would love to make a record

as a three piece. With the help of our computer genius friend Jason Chaffee we  were able to put together a

 very affordable home studio.  With a pile of songs and ideas we started recording

tracks for what would become our fourth album "Pecking Order" at the beginning of November 2005.  All of us 

were working full time jobs so we toted our little studio, built into a homemade wooden case, around to each 

members place which allowed more time to work on the tracks.  Jason recorded his rhythm guitar parts first, I 

added my guitar parts next and Adam topped it off by recording his vocals once all the music had been done.

Jason and I added a few background vocals of our own and we began mixing the record in January of 2006.

The mixing process ended up being the most difficult and time consuming part of the process, but after all the hard

work we had put into writing and recording the tracks we were not about to sell ourselves short on mix.  The mix

and track order was finalized in late February and we began working on the artwork for the album.  We had a 

great time collectively designing the packaging for the record and we sent it off to the printers in the middle of March.

We had a great time making this record, it being the first album we have made entirely on our own time and terms.  We

feel that our writing has taken a quantum leap from our previous records and we are excited for anyone who cares

to listen to hear our new songs and sound that is more honest and clear than at anytime in the decade we have spent

writing and play music as Rearview Mirror.